Ignoble
by Hibana
Summary: The story of Arianna of Windheights, a not so typical noble who joins the Queen's Riders. With her best friend Bridey, the Queen's Riders will never be the same. Mischief, Punishments, Explosions and Fun. Drabbles. Goes with "Audacioius" by torikkusuta
1. Meet Arianna

Ignoble

Chapter 1:Meet Arianna

Part of a drabble series, in conjunction with torikkusuta's Audacious; our little slice of Tamora Pierce's amazing world! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Mother, Father, I have an announcement to make," began Arianna of Windheights, youngest daughter of the Baron and his Lady of the Fief Windheights in the middle of Tortall. At age 15, it was the time when she should have been married off profitably like her older sisters or at least doing something useful like her brothers. Instead, the Baron and his Lady were left with her…

"I have decided on a course of action in my life. I will join the Queen's Riders," she stated.

Her father sat down his accounting book, her mother the tea cup imported from the Yamani islands, and exchanged a look.

"I believe that will be for the best, child," said her father at last.

Arianna knew exactly what they meant. She had overheard her mother complaining about the task of making a lady out of a girl who had been left to her own devices too long while she found suitable marriages for her older siblings. Why, she slept in trees and kept frogs in her room, had brambles in her hair most days, kept company with dogs and horses rather than other sociable young ladies, and spent her time riding her beloved ponies. Her family had, quite frankly, not known what to do with her, and since she had no inclination to become a noble wife or a delicate lady…This was definitively for the best.

So she left that next day with her two ponies, a couple of bags full of clothes and possessions, a pouch of money and instructions to write but not to visit without writing first. But she smiled and patted the neck of her pony, a dark brown gelding with a long black mane, and clucked to her dappled grey mare, and set off on her own journey.


	2. Innocence

Ignoble

Ch. 2=Innocence

Part of a drabble series, in conjunction with torikkusuta's Audacious; our little slice of Tamora Pierce's amazing world! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Commander Larse tapped a beat on his desk as he looked over the list of new trainees with Sarge.

"It's the usual batch," he told Sarge. "A few merchant kids, a lot of girls this time…a university student, some lesser sons… we even have a noble girl."

Sarge raised his eyebrow. "I hope she knew what she was doing."

"Her interviewer seemed to believe so," said Evin, looking at the paperwork. "Well, let's go see what we've got."

They went to the assembled trainees, all innocent and new. They wouldn't be that way for long, Evin knew, and he knew Sarge was grinning at the sight of all the little lambs—and knowing what was in store for them. Sarge gave his usual 'welcoming speech' that inspired fear and awe in the recruits. Evin smiled, remembering his own training days. Then Sarge bellowed out the roll call, and Evin memorized each face with the name and took a first impression.

Sarge called the name of the noble, Arianna of Windheights. A petite girl answered, and Evin took a good look at her. She was tiny, perhaps not even five feet tall, with petite features and wavy brown hair. He would have thought she was a dainty lady but for the well-used boots and riding chaps still on her legs. She had a strange, innocent expression that made him wonder if she was really cut out for the Riders…

Little did he know how deceiving that innocent expression was.


	3. Trouble Lurking

Ignoble

Ch. 3--Trouble Lurking

Part of 100 themes! couldn't follow 100 word limit... and kudos to Tamora Pierce for Raoul, Buri, and the setting! Arianna is mine and Bridey is torikkusuta of "Audacious". Enjoy!

* * *

"Bridey! Bridey! Bridey!" called out Arianna, hurrying to her new friend. Bridey took one look at her and the grin on her face and said, "No."

"But Bri-dey! It's going to be really interesting!" she told her friend.

"No, I don't want part in whatever you've come up with. I haven't recovered from the last punishment we got from _your_ ideas."

"But this one's different!" she insisted. "And I can't do it without you, I don't know how to make it work!" When Bridey still wouldn't agree, she said conspiratorially, "I've got some new chemicals~!"

"Chemicals?" Bridey's curiosity was roused. "What kind of chemicals?"

"Chemicals that go boom," Arianna responded, her face alight. When Bridey agreed at last to help, Arianna giggled. "This is going to be interesting!"

She was vindicated when the chemicals set off a very large boom indeed.


	4. Love

Ignoble

Chapter 4: Love

A Tamora Pierce Fanfiction

by Hibana

Disclaimer: I do own my own character Arianna, and Torikkusuta owns Bridey, but the world belongs forever to the great Tamora Pierce!

Part of a drabble series, in conjunction with torikkusuta's Audacious; our little slice of Tamora Pierce's amazing world! Based on a 100 theme prompt. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Arianna and Bridey were relaxing during their rare free time a year or so after they had joined; most riders had more free time than they, but considering their record of punishments and Commander Larse's belief that free time led to such mischief, they were given it vary sparingly.

Arianna brushed down her pony Tucker, cooing softly while Bridey mused to herself, lying on a pile of hay.

"You know, I wonder if I'll ever meet a man and fall in love," said Bridey. "Not that I'm looking for one, but after seeing Commander Buri and Lord Raoul...it'd be nice. To love and be loved." She looked up at her friend. "Have you ever felt like that?"

Arianna surprised Bridey by actually thinking on it rather than spitting back some quick answer. "Yeah, I have."

"And?" inquired Bridey.

"It's these guys," she said, affectionately tapping her pony. "Tucker and Shane… they love me."

"Horses don't love, not the way people do," replied Bridey.

"Sure they do! Tuck and Shane, they know me, they understand. When I'm upset, Tucker can tell and goofs off to make me feel better; Shane can be an ass but he'll give me a smooth gait when I'm feeling sick. When I do something stupid Shane will look at me and just think sarcastic thoughts about me, I know he does," the grey gelding ignored her, eating his hay. "And Tucker will just laugh at me as I'm sitting there in the dirt, and then he'll come over and check on me if I lie there too long. They take care of me, like when I broke my ankle and had to hobble back holding onto them, and I take care of them like this. They're my friends. That's love if I've ever known it."

She returned to grooming her friend and left her human one with much to think about.


	5. Introduction

Ignoble

A Tamora Pierce Fanfiction

by Hibana

Disclaimer: I do own my own character Arianna, and Torikkusuta owns Bridey, but the world belongs forever to the great Tamora Pierce!

Part of a drabble series, in conjunction with torikkusuta's Audacious; our little slice of Tamora Pierce's amazing world! Based on a 100 theme prompt. Hope you enjoy!

Introduction

(cause I couldn't think of a better one to use, so I'm using Introduction. "Meet Arianna" doesn't count as it anymore.)

Author's Note: I first have to make an apology. I was rightfully made aware by Micati that I have not given a timeline yet or told how Arianna and Bridey meet. And for that, I'm sorry! It was a case of, it's-all-in-my-head but I didn't think to show it. So now you will find a timeline at the end of the story roughly showing where each chapter takes place. As for the shortness, Micati, this was _supposed_ to be just a drabble series...but now that you mentioned it, I can cut loose a bit. :) These will hopefully begin to get longer.

Oh, yes, and this chapter takes place right after torikkusuta's version (which actually leads right in, ending with Bridey introducing herself to a petite girl). So yeah for the continuation!

As usual, read and enjoy.

* * *

Arianna sat at one of the tables in the mess hall of the Riders, waiting for her new life as a Rider to officially begin.

"Hello, I'm Bridey, who're you?" It was a girl who was asking. Arianna looked at her. She was taller than Arianna herself (but then, who wasn't?) and she wore her brunette hair in a ponytail.

"Arianna. Are you new as well?"

The girl, Bridey, grinned. "Yeah. So, where're you from and what made you join?"

"I'm from Windheights," she explained. "And I wanted something exciting."

"Windheights? I haven't met anyone from that fief before. What did you do before you decided to join?"

Arianna shrugged. "Whatever I wanted. My father and mother didn't really care, with marrying off my brothers and sisters and getting them positions. I didn't want to be a lady like my sisters."

"Wait…" Bridey stammered. "Are you nobility?"

"Very minor—my father is only an earl." Arianna suddenly grinned. "I made my mother cry when I told her I was joining the Riders, she was so relieved."

"Wow…" Bridey was musing over this information. She had heard that nobles sometimes joined the Riders, but it wasn't that common of an occurrence. "Why didn't you just become a knight, then, like Lady Keladry?"

She shrugged. "I didn't want to. That wasn't the kind of life for me. Besides, it takes seven years to become a knight, if you start when you're ten. But it only takes a year to become a Rider—you see action a lot sooner."

"Hmm… hadn't thought of it that way."

"What about you?"

"Oh, my family's merchants. I actually was a student at the University."

"You gave up being a student at the University to become a Rider?" Arianna asked, rather surprised.

"I know—crazy, huh?"

Arianna paused, then said in a calm voice, "I think we are going to be friends."

Bridey laughed.

Then a large, dark-skinned man entered the room, bellowing for the trainees to take a seat.

"He looks like an _Ursus arctos horribilis,_" Bridey whispered to Arianna as they sat and stared up at Sarge, along with the rest of the new trainees.

"A what?"

"A really large, mean looking bear."

Arianna paused. "Or a small ogre."

"More like a normal sized ogre."

"A tiny giant, then."

The giant of a man began to bellow. "Quiet! All of you have signed up to join the Queen's Riders, so you all belong to me for the next year until I decide you're capable of not getting killed or making fools of yourselves!" He continued in this vein in front of the room.

As he paused to take a breath, Bridey whispered aloud to herself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

"A whole lot of fun," replied Arianna, and they grinned at each other, friends already.

* * *

And such was the beginning of a lifelong friendship for Arianna and Bridey and a very large headache for Commander Evin Larse…

Poor Evin.

Oh, and just as a note, what Arianna told Bridey was not the real reason she didn't go for a knight. It'll come up, eventually. See if you can guess! It'll become more obvious as I start cranking these drablbles out (which will be faster once Torikkusuta gets home from overseas. It's 'bout time, Tori!).

I'll add more early frienship stuff as Torikussuta and I come up with it! But bear with me if I jump around a bit. This is, after all, a drabble series. Maybe once i'm finished I'll go back and put them in order... But now for the timeline, as promised, in order.

Before Riders: Meet Arianna

During Training: Innocence; Introduction; Trouble Lurking

As Riders: Love

And I'll update it as I go along. Thanks for reading! ~Hibana


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